~ Day by day with RA …

About Rotator Cuff Surgery

One of the great benefits of the Internet (IMHO) is the vast availability of medical information — not only from medical practitioners and sources, but from every day people as they document their experiences with various conditions. This human, unfiltered, uncensored dialog of real people has been incredibly invaluable in helping others understand what may be expected in their own situation.

I know this was extremely helpful to me when I was diagnosed with RA, when I had my hip replacement surgery, and especially when I had shoulder replacement surgery since shoulder replacements are still relatively infrequent. I have tried to “repay” this help by documenting my own experiences for people, like me, who are searching for information and/or someone to answer their questions.

So when I faced rotator cuff surgery, I was pleased to find a plethora of information on the subject. This all seemed to confirm the information I got from my friends who have had the surgery, and substantiate the information provided by my surgeon concerning pain and recovery.

As in the past, my goal was that I would document my own experiences so others could use it as a source of reference.

I’m afraid that nothing I heard or was told applies to my situation. So I guess the lesson that I pass on along to people facing the surgery is that sometimes, not always, but sometimes, things all work out in the best possible way.

My surgeon told me that the surgery would be more painful than my shoulder replacement. Wrong. Except immediately after the surgery, I’ve had very little pain. I took minor amounts of pain medicine for the first two days after surgery and have only taken the occasional Tylenol since then.

The truth is, all the worrisome, scary things that I was told or researched just haven’t applied to me. Very little pain. Some restrictions on strength and mobility, but those seem to be more associated with the additional surgery on the biceps tendon and unrelated to the rotator cuff surgery. I do all my exercises with little or no difficulty. The worst part of the entire experience (other than the actual surgery) is having to sleep on my back, propped up, with my arm in a sling.

So if you’re looking for information on rotator cuff surgery, the best I can provide is that sometimes all those scary things are wrong.

(Of course tomorrow I get my stitches out and I may be singing another verse then. Stay tuned!)

Hope your life is progressing as well as mine is. Thanks for checking in.

4 thoughts on “About Rotator Cuff Surgery”

When I had a synovectomy done on my right wrist back in 2005, the surgeon told me to take four weeks off work, that I would be unable to use my right hand for at least two of those weeks, that there would be a fair amount of pain during recovery, and that I’d need physical therapy for some time afterward to bring me back to normal.

I took the four weeks off (my boss was appalled!), but I was typing with that hand within 24 hours of surgery. I couldn’t use it for grasping or lifting, but typing was fine (if a little slow at first) and I did it on the sly, knowing the doc would probably tell me “no” if I asked for permission. I needed very little pain medication. And by the time came around for stitch removal, I surprised the heck out of him with how quickly I’d healed and how much I could manage. He decided to wait a week to send me to PT, and had me back to see how I was doing. I was fine. By this time I no longer needed a sling; I was doing most things just as I always had, though still leaving the heavy stuff for my family members. I asked about going back to work; he said no, stay home, be careful. So I did. And when the four weeks were up, I went back to work. Called his office from my office with a question about paperwork, and when I said I was at work, the doc was blown away. He’d told me FIVE weeks off, not four … but conceded that since I was back, and fine, and obviously needed no PT, I was done.

Healing, I think, is a very individual thing. Some of us heal up quicker. Some of us feel pain more, or less, than others. Some of us are more daring (and not always to our own advantage — I was lucky). But it’s still nice to go into a situation like that knowing as much as possible as to what to expect, if nothing else then so you can bend the rules a little. ;)

I’m so glad your recovery is going so well, Carla. I hope the post-stitch recovery continues just that way, too. Thanks for the great post — it’s nice to know that I’m not the only “odd” one out there.